Daily updates about Syria

3/18/2015

Photos published by Zaman al-Wasl of prisoners who died of government detention have allowed Military Hospital 601, one of the sites where the photos were taken to be geolocated to a spot about 500 meters from the Presidential Palace. Satellite photos of the area over time also give further evidence as to when the bodies, many of which show signs of starvation and heavy torture, began to be documented there:

An article by Zaman al-Wasl on Rihab Allwai, a female activist and engineering student who died in government detention in February 2013 and who’s body was identified in the recently released photos: https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/9381.html

The station monitored Israeli and rebel communications and serves as a dominant feature over the flat region that surrounds it.

Araj contacted rebels several months before their offensive, giving then details such as force strength, defensive preparations, code words, and details about Iranian reinforcements, and deploying his troops in ways that made them easier to overrun.

He crossed over to Jordan on October 15, after he and the rebels he was working with staged an ambush where rebels showed his ID as proof that he had been killed.

A number of government officers were executed in the aftermath as the government attempted to discover where the leaks had come from, with The National reporting that up to 56 people were executed.

Araj died of a heart defect a month after crossing into Jordan.

His defection played a large role in Iran’s decision to place General Qassem Suleimani in direct control of the southern front.

Amnesty International called the government’s chlorine gas attack on Sarmin a “war crime”.

Monday’s attack killed 6 people from 1 family, including 3 children.

Amnesty International said that government airstrikes in November on the Islamic State stronghold of ar-Raqqa, which killed 115 civilians, appeared to deliberately hit non-military targets and have “every indication of being war crimes”.